Last night was the TCA Awards, which were a lot of fun, as always (and not just because Damon Lindelof’s acceptance speech included the phrase “Sepinwall, you bastard”), and while I hope to do a longer write-up of the evening at some point today, right now I need to start getting ready for ABC’s day at the tour. ABC’s the next-to-last broadcast network to present at TCA this summer (Fox is tomorrow), and like NBC on Friday, they have a very, very busy day – plus a brand-new president thanks to Steve McPherson’s abrupt resignation last week. My rundown of the schedule after the jump…
9 a.m.: “Detroit 1-8-7,” a new cop show with Michael Imperioli and James McDaniel. Imperioli’s quite good, but the show is being tinkered with post-pilot, because the producers decided to ditch the mockumentary framework, so I imagine we’ll have a question or three about that decision, and about whether TV has reached a saturation point on shows where people talk to the camera.
9:45 a.m.: An executive session with new entertainment president Paul Lee, who has been in the job so briefly – and is coming from ABC Family, as opposed to being promoted from within like some other “Hey, I’m new here” TCA execs – that I can’t imagine him having useful answers for anything. But at the same time, we would have raised holy hell if ABC hadn’t had an exec session given the recent turmoil, and there’s some value to asking Lee about programming philosophy, even if he can’t comment much on the decisions of the McPherson regime.
10:45 a.m.: “Mr. Sunshine,” a mid-season comedy with Matthew Perry, Allison Janney and Andrea Anders. Perry is always good on these panels, so even though I haven’t been able to watch the pilot (ABC’s streaming player on their press website is a horrible match with the hotel’s spotty wifi), I’m looking forward to this.
11:30 a.m.: “Body of Proof,” with the always-charming Dana Delany.
12:15 p.m.: A lunchtime panel featuring “My Generation,” which I also have not been able to watch due to ABC/wifi problems.
1:30 p.m.: Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz, Greg Berlanti and the rest of the gang from “No Ordinary Family,” which has been getting some of the best pre-season buzz of any network series.
2:15 p.m.: “The Whole Truth,” a Bruckheimer legal show that splits its time between a prosecutor (Maura Tierney) and defense attorney (Rob Morrow). Tierney stepped in to replace Joely Richardson after the pilot, so there will be questions about that, and I’m hoping whatever cancer questions she gets are both brief and tasteful.
2:50 p.m.: A coffee break with the cast and producers of “Modern Family.” Basically, an extended press tour scrum. Given the number of people on the show, it’s probably a wiser idea than putting them all on stage for a formal press conference, but we’ll see how it goes.
3:45 p.m.: “Better With You,” a new comedy with JoAnna Garcia and former “Committed” co-stars Josh Cooke and Jennifer Finnigan. I don’t ordinarily ask actors about their personal lives, but I may not be able to resist asking Garcia some questions in the scrum about her fiance, wacky Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher.
4:30 p.m.: “Secret Millionaire,” a reality show Fox did a few years ago and ABC has resurrected, thinking the time/economy are right now for it, even if now it looks like an “Undercover Boss” rip-off.
5:15 p.m.: “Happy Endings,” a mid-season comedy with Elisha Cuthbert and Eliza Coupe, and the last show of the day I have yet to see due to aforementioned net issues.
6-8:30 p.m.: The non-party party, which ABC, as it often does, is holding indoors, which will seem intimate but also be an acoustic nightmare for anyone trying to record an interview.